Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Government spending on education as a share of GDP was 5.3% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Government spending on education as a share of GDP in Costa Rica, 1980–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Costa Rica recorded 5.3% for government spending on education as a share of gdp in 2023.
That represents a change of down 4.2% on the previous year and down 20.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government spending on education as a share of gdp in Costa Rica peaked at 7.3% in 1980 and was at its lowest, 3.4%, in 1995.
That places Costa Rica 48th out of 199 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 32 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 5.0% | 4.0% | 7.3% | 6 |
| 1990s | 4.2% | 3.4% | 5.4% | 3 |
| 2000s | 5.0% | 4.6% | 6.0% | 9 |
| 2010s | 6.7% | 6.4% | 7.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 5.9% | 5.3% | 6.6% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More education data for Costa Rica
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 68.9% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 18.3% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 104.8% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 43,058 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.32 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 104.7% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government spending on education as a share of gdp in Costa Rica?
- Government spending on education as a share of gdp in Costa Rica was 5.3% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 7.3% in 1980.
- What is the lowest government spending on education as a share of gdp recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.4% in 1995.
- How does Costa Rica rank for government spending on education as a share of gdp?
- Costa Rica ranks 48th out of 199 countries with data for 2023.
- Is government spending on education as a share of gdp rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 20.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Government spending on education as a share of GDP. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
Total annual general government spending on all levels of education, expressed as a percentage of GDP.